Chapter 11: Forgotten friends, remembered pasts

Fights were everywhere, the enemy was everywhere, the sound of battle was everywhere. These were the only things Ryouske could register in his surprise as the wall of the arena had a huge hole smashed through it, enemy ninja from the Hidden sound village pouring through it. Ryouske looked around, drawing his katana as he did, and blocked the kunai attack of an enemy that had come at him and followed up with a punch to the temple, rendering them unconscious.

Next to Ryouske, Anko and Karina had already drawn their kunai and were looking around as if waiting for an attack. Karina looked at Anko with a frown, "what the hell are these sound ninja doing attacking?" she asked only for Anko to grit her teeth in anger as she thought of only one man who could do this, "Orochimaru," she said, "that twisted bastard is behind this, the sound village is HIS village."

Ryouske opened his mouth to sya something when he looked into the arena and saw Gaara, Temari and Kankuro fleeing into the forest with Sasuke giving chase. He, Karina and Anko fought their way to where Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto and Shikamaru was and crouched down netx to them. Naruto looked around and groaned, "where did all of these ninja come from?" he asked only for Kakashi to look at him with that one eyed, masked face of his, "they must of been lying in wait for this, meaning someone inside must of given them a signal, this attack is too coordinated to not be assited by someone on the inside."

As soon as Kakashi had said that, Ryouske knew exactly who might of helped them and when he turned to voice his opinion he saw, standing by the railing, the exact person who he had suspected. Kabuto was standing there disguised as an ANBU black ops member, the village special force, without the mask and when he saw Ryouske, he smirked. "Kabuto. You rat abstard, i knew you were a spy," he said, glaring at the man, who just pushed his glasses up and threw the cloak away, drawing a kunai.

"Well well aren't you clever, and here i thought i had fooled you all," he said as he stared Ryouske down. Ryouske was about to jump at him and fight when Anko grabbed his shoulder making him look back at her, "don't Ryo. Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru are going after Gaara and Sasuke. I think if anyoen has a right to go after Gaara, it is you," she said making the boy nod. Instea Karina stepped forward and drew her own kunai, staring at kabuto, "Don't worry Ryo, four eyes is mine."

Ryo motioned for Naruto, Shikamaru and Sakura to go on without him as he drew his katana and watched Karina, just to see if she would need some help. Kabuto smirked and lowered the hood of his black cloak and drew medical scalpels to use as weapons, "You should have gone with them little girl, you would have been better off," he arrogantly said making Karina glare at him and charge forward.

Their blades clashed, sparks flying, as they met each others weapon, strike for strike, until Kabuto kicked Karina into one of the columns holding up the roof of the arena, making her cough in pain. Karina soon got up and weaved handsigns and swung her kunai, "Wind style: Wind Blade jutsu," she called as blades of wind launched from her kunai and flew at Kabuto. He ducked under them, but was surprised when the edges managed to hit his arms, slicing cuts into them.

Karina smirked, thinking she had manged to wound him, when all of a sudden he pressed forward in a vicious barrage of slashes, forcing her to block in a hurry but getting cut a few times because she did and was kicked into the collumn once more. Ryouske was about to run in and help her when Karina stood up and spat blood out of her mouth onto floor, holding her hand up to Ryouske, "Stay back Ryouske, i got this prick," she told him as she grabbed onto the bandages on her right eye.

"Never thought i would have to use this thing again," she said as she ripped off the bandages and opened her right eye revealing a sapphire blue eye with a slit like a cat and seals circiling it. Chakra then began to form around her, her hair standing on end and her headband flying off from the pressure off the chakra, and she clenched her fists as she glared at Kabuto while a surprised Ryouske watched.

Kabuto smirked as if her eye didn't bother him and charged forward, only for his eyes to widen as Karina appeared behind him, her speed obviously increased, and went flying across the stands, sending benches flying everywhere, as she punched him straight across the cheek. Not giving him a chance to recover, Karina then sprinted at him and slammed her foot down onto him, only for her foot to hit the stone, making a small crater from the impact, as Kabuto had jumped out of the way.

"Damn, what is this power she has all of a sudden. I've never seen this before," he exclaimed as he landed away from her, only for her to appear in front of him and grab his shirt, sending her knee into his stomach and throwing him up into the air as she weaved handsigns and inhaled deeply, "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Missile," she thought and blew out a massive burst of intense fire that flew at Kabuto in the shape of a dragon engulfing him, which he luckily managed to grab a collumn and swing out of with some burns and his clothes burnt.

Landing on the ground, Kabuto looked at his arm and grit his teeth, deciding to fight for another day as he needed to continue with the plane. Karina was just about to run at him, when he threw a smoke bomb down and disappeared, leaving a pissed off Karina there. Ryouske ran up to her just as the chakra around her disappeared and she fell to one knee, spewing out blood onto the floor. "Damn," she said through a mouthful of blood, "I forgot how costly to my health that eye is," she smiled weakly at Ryouske, letting him know she was alright, just before she fell forward into his arms unconscious.

Smiling at her proudly, he laid her to rest next to Kakashi and jumped through the hole in the wall to catch up to Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru. As he jumped through the branches, a monstrous roar sounded out around him, making him increase his pace, "Damn, i hope i'm not too late. That roar sounded like...HIM" he thought. He soon caught up to the others only to stop and widen his eyes at what he saw.

Sasuske was lying on a branch, dark markings going up the left side of his body, unable to move, as Naruto stood over him, beaten up but still ready to fight. Sakura was unconscious and pinned against a tree by a massive claw made. The Sand claw was connected to what looked like Gaara, only he looked vastly different, his body was almost entirely covered in sand with only his feet, his hair, the symbol for love on his forehead and his mouth and eyes visible, the latter of which had one of his normal pale eyes and the other was a yellow eye with a 4 point star for a pupil and a dot on each corner of the star.

Ryouske jumped next to Naruto, Who looked at him with a determined look, "Glad you got here Ryo, this bastard is a tough one," he said, wiping his mouth of blood. Ryouske just looked at Gaara's body and swore, "Fuck, it is close to happening, Just as i remember." Naruto looked at him in confusion and raised an eyebrow, to which Ryouske opened his mouth to speak, "I used to live in the Hidden Sand village when i was little, before i came to the leaf village," Naruto's eyes widened at this but he nodded, looking back at Gaara, whose eyes were widening also.

Ryouske continued with a sigh,"My parents died when i was small, i did not know how, and so was taken in by the father of my best friend and lived with his family," at this Gaara's eyes widened until they looked like they would pop out, "You..you can't be," Gaara stuttered out of his drooling, feral looking mouth as Ryouske nodded. He sighed and smiled sadly, looking at Gaara, "yea, that's right. My best friend was named Gaara."

Naruto clenched his fists as he tried to take in what he had just heard, while Gaara grit his teeth and glared at Ryouske," you...you abandoned me!" he angrily said making Ryouske shake his head, "no Gaara, i didn't. I was kidnapped by Orochimaru because of my Sky Style, i swear i did not abandon you." Gaara, it seemed did not believe so as he shook his head and flung shuriken made of sand at Ryouske, snarling as he did so, which Ryouske deflected with his katana.

"LIAR! YOU ABANDONED ME BECAUSE JUST LIKE EVERYONE, YOU THOUGHT I WAS A MONSTER!," Gaara shouted to him in a rage, causing Ryouske to shake his head once more, "no Gaara, i didn't abandon you. Nothing would have made me abandon you," he said once more tyring to make his childhood friend see reason but to no avail. Seeing that he was having no luck, Ryouske held out his arm in front of him.

What happened next made Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara widen their eyes as right before them, in Ryouske's hand, a Chidori started to form surging wildly in Ryouske's hand as his Sharingan activated and he locked eyes with Gaara, "I'm your friend Gaara, and i'll always protect you, even from yourself" Ryouske stated, making Gaara snarl and jump at him, which Ryouske did the same.

Just before they collided, Ryouske thrust his Chidori foward, hitting Gaara in the shoulder, sending him back in an arc of blood with Ryouske also going back because of Gaara's sand claw, which had scratched down Ryouskes front. Both landed back on their tree branches and both panted in pain, Ryouske then spat blood out and decided to try one more time to reach his friend. "Gaara, you have to listen to me and stop this. This hatred and destruction won't prove your existence, it will just make you sink deeper into your pit of despair," he said, appealing to his friend.

Gaara just roared in anger at him, "Shut up! Only by killing you and Naruto Uzumaki can i truly prove that i am alive. After you had abandoned me i fell into despair, until an assassin tried to kill me", Ryouske's look turned sad as his former friend spoke, "I killed that bastard and do you know who it was? IT WAS MY OWN UNCLE, YASHIMARU. MY OWN UNCLE TRIED TO KILL ME!" Hearing this, Ryouske shook his head not wanting to believe it, to believe that Gaara's kind uncle would do such a thing.

The sand covering Gaara continued to stretch over him until he looked almost like a monster made from sand. Ryouske swore, knwoing what would happen next if this continued, while Gaara continued to speak, "It was then that i finally understood, no-one will ever love me, only fear me. It was then that i knew i had to kill to prove i was alive," he declared making tears start to fall down Ryouske's cheeks as he stared at his crazed friend.

Naruto clenched his fists tight from seeing how Gaara's tale was affecting Ryouske and touched his friend on the shoulder, making Ryouske look at him, "I'm sorry for what happened between you and him Ryo, but he needs to be stopped," he said making Ryouske nod in understanding and wipe away his tears.

Gaara laughed a feral, twisted laugh as he put his hands together in a handsign and a gigantic puff of smoke appear where from the smoke, a gaint tanuki (a racoon-dog for those who don't know) made of sand with a giant tail of sand appeared, making Ryouske's eyes widen, "FUCK, FUCK FUCK," he shouted out, making Naruto look at him, "Naruto, start doing the summoning jutsu, NOW! With that giant bastard out we have major problems," Ryouske said as he immediatly began to weave handsigns as sand wrapped around him like a coffin, with the same happening to Naruto as he too began to weave handsigns.

Just before the sand could crush them, both Naruto and Ryouske slammed their right hands down onto the tree branch they were standing on and both were engulfed with a giant puff of smoke also. When the smoke clouds cleared, Ryouske was standing on Valora, the boss of his dragon summoning contract, who looked up at Ryouske standing on her head and smiled a toothly smile.

"Well hello up there handsome. What have you summoned me for? Did you miss me that badly? Were you trying to get another peek at me?" she asked making Ryouske blush madly causing her to laugh that musical laugh of hers. While Ryouske was tyring to stop the flow of blood from his nose because of the memory of Valora's generous cleavage snuck into his head, Valora looked over at Naruto's summon and smirked at her old friend.

Naruto had summoned a gigantic rusty red, warted toad that hard deeper red markings around his golden eyes,that had a horizontal slit going through them and the left of which had a scar going down it, and lips, was wearing a blue jacket with the kanji for ebi on the back. At his hip was a gigantic katana and hanging out of his mouth was a huge smoking pipe and when he flicked his tounge out, various piercings could be seen along his tongue.

"Helllo Gamabunta. You have gotten even uglier in your youth," Valora said making the toad, Gamabunta, look at her ans huff at her playful tone, "I see someone actually managed to find your summoning contract Valora, even if it is a runt." At this comment about Ryouske, Valora's smiled turned sickly sweet as she turned her head fully towards the toad, "Careful now Gamabunta, insult my dear Ryouske again and i'll give you another scar to match the one over your left eye. You remember when i gave you the first one riiiiight?"

At her threat, Gamabunta shivered and quickly looked up to his head to where Naruto was, "Why did you call me here brat?" he asked the blonde who pointed at the tanuki, making both Valora's and Gamabunta's eyes widen. "Damn, that crazy fucking tanuki again?! I thought Shukaku was sealed away ages ago?" Valora asked Gamabunta who nodded a yes to her.

Ryouske, who had managed to stop his bleeding nose, looked over at Shukaku's head where a normal looking Gaara had appeared out of it like a horn, this made Ryosuke's eyes widen, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!," he shouted out, making Naruto, Valora and Gamabunta look at him, with Gamabunta raising an eyebrow at him. "That was a big F-bomb kid. I'm guessing you know that jutsu, don't you?" he asked making Ryouske nod his head.

Gaara, who had began holding a single handsign, looked at them and explained, "the Play Possum jutsu, it is a jutsuhich allows me to let Shukaku out to prove my existence," he said right before he fell asleep and Shukaku waved his arms, laughing into the air. "I'M BACK, MOTHER FUCKERS!,"he screamed out gleefully while Valora shook her head, "Such a filthy mouth for a tailed beast," she said under her breath, unbeknownst to everyone except Ryouske, who raised an eyebrow but filed it away for later.

Shukaku looked at them smirking, until he looked at Valora and swore loudly, "Valora, is that you?," he asked ,"Holy shit, i thought your hot fucking ass was dead." Valora just shook her head at his language and smiled at him, "Oh, you know you would miss me Shukaku," she playfully said making him laugh, "Oh, and who is that on your head? Is that a human? HA! Lowered yourself to being a summon for a human huh? I thought you couldn't get any lower than your knees, but it seems playing pet to a pitiful, disgusting human is pretty fucking low HAHAHAHA!"

Gamabunta, Ryouske and Naruto all gulped and looked at Valora as she began to shake and then looked up with a murderous look in her eyes, radiating a killer intent that would make even the god of death shit himself in fear. Digging her claws into the ground she bared her fangs at the still laughing Shukaku and spoke with a voice dripping with fury and venom, "I don't give a damn if you insult me, but don't you FUCKING EVER INSULT MY RYOUSKE!," she screamed at him with a roar that shook the very mountains themselves.

After Gamabunta managed shake off his fear of Valora, because even he now knew NOT to insult that Ryouske kid, he then looked at Shukaku as a plan came to mind, "Hey brats, if we can get you close enough to him, you gotta wake up that red head to end this jutsu, he said making them nod. They then rushed forward, only for Shukaku to spit out giant bullets of air at them, which Gamabunta destroyed by spitting out bullets of water, but this caused them to get knocked away by Shukaku's arms.

Gamabunta looked at Naruto as an idea appeared in his head, "Kid, we need fangs or claws to hold onto him while Valora comes from behind and takes out the right arm while i take the left. Use the transformation jutsu to change me into somehting we need, got it?" he ordered to Naruto who nodded as Gamabunta and Valora ran at Shukaku again with Valora coming from behind.

Valora ran at Shukaku and waved her tail, "Scalestorm," she called out as silver scales from her tail shot out and rained down on Shukaku's arm, severing it at the shoulder making it drop to the ground. Shukaku roared in pain, "AH, CMON. NOT MY FUCKING ARM!" Just then a giant puff of smoke appeared around Gamabunta and what appeared made their eyes widen in surprise.

Out of the smoke burst an orange blur, which landed on the ground with a monstorus roar. The creature that was before them was something that had not been seen in this world for 12 years, something that alot of people were thought to have died. The creature had orange fur, like a descending sunset, and razor sharp fangs and claws that gleamed in the sun. It's eyes had dark blue fur around them and were a blood red, filled with power and fury. It's ears were pointed with blue fur tipping them. It's slender body was strong and lean but it was the tails that truly made them shocked. It had 9 tails.

Shukaku looked at the 9 tailed fox and stuttered in fear as he saw it, not believing his eyes. The 9 tailed fox, that was really Gamabunta transformed into it, lunged at Shukaku and swiped it's claws, severing his remaining arm and bit down onto it, bringing it's head level with Shukaku's. Valora lowered her head to Shukaku's as Ryouske and Naruto both jumped from their summons heads onto Shukaku's, with both Shinobi then running towards where Gaara was and both smacked him straight across the face.

Tentacles of sand rose up aorund them and grabbed them both, but Naruto, being closer to Gaara, brought his head back and headbutted him, waking him form the jutsu, causing Shukaku to swear loudly as the sand around him began to crumble and disappear. Gamambunta and Valora disappeared as all three shinobi landed on tree tops with the smoke from the summons forming a whirlwind around them, they then jumped at each other, yelling out, and collided with Naruto and Ryouske's fists against Gaaras cheeks and Gaaras fists against Ryouske and Naruto's faces.

The 3 of them then dropped to the ground exhausted, with Naruto landing on his front, Ryouske landing on his back against a tree trunk and Gaara landing on his back, all 3 of their heads bleeding and their bodies broken and bruised. Naruto then started crawling towards Gaara, who looked at him with fear and anger, "Why...why do you...continue to fight? Why...why do you continue you to fight for others, and not for yourself?"

Naruto stopped crawling and looked at him, "It's because they saved me FROM myself. I was shunned and hated and i was depressed about it," he explained sadly then weakly looked at where Ryouske was sat in pain and watching them, "But then i found friends who accepted me and cared for me, they became my reason to become strong, so i could protect them."

Gaara's eyes widened as he listened to Naruto, until Ryouske weakly crawled on his hands and knees towards Gaara and sat behind him, lifting Gaara's head onto his stomach as he hugged the boy close. "You were never alone either Gaara, you had your family, Temari, Kankuro and me of course. I would never have abandoned you Gaara, i love you like a brother and you will always be a reason why i am strong, just as i'll be your reason to be strong."

Gaara could not believe what he was hearing, that is until his cheeks became wet and he realised that it was both from his tears, which had began to run down his face, and from Ryouske's tears, which had begun to flal down Ryouske's cheeks. Temari and Kankuro appeared then from the trees and both smiled softly at the scene before them, both happy that they had found Ryouske and that both he and Gaara were friends again. With goodbyes from Ryouske, they took hold of Gaara and jumped away into the trees just as Ryouske fell backwards, unconscious.

Sasuke arrived then and told Naruto that Sakura was safe, getting a smile of relief from the blonde, and then looked over at Ryouske with a frown,"Why is Ryouske smiling? Did he enjoy that battle that much?" he asked the blonde who exhaustedly shook his head. "No...he is smiling..because...he was reunited with an old friend." Something on Ryouske's face sparkled with the light that shined on the clearing and when Naruto saw it he smiled right before he fell unconscious, Ryouske was smiling with tears on his face that Naruto had not seen for years...tears of joy.

aaaaaaaaand DONE

Another one of my more favourite chapters. This was was beautiful to write simply because of the beautiful friendship of Ryouske and Gaara.

As always leave your reviews and also as always, no flames please.

This is HaremKing666 signing off. Stay pervy everyone XD